A Texas man was riding his scooter to his first day of work when he ran into some trouble. An Austin, Texas officer stopped him to tell him that he was riding in the wrong direction. However, the conversation took a turn for the worse, leading to a frightening situation.
TikToker Walter (@youngbulldrawn) was on his way to work at his new job in Austin, Texas. He had no other means of transportation, so he took his scooter and rode in the bike lane. However, while doing so, an officer tried to stop him for riding in the wrong direction. This TikToker was riding his scooter against traffic, like he thought you were supposed to in Austin. But the officer claimed this wasn’t the case and stopped him.
You can hear the distress in his voice as this new employee yells out, “Leave me alone! I’m trying to get to work! This is the bike lane and I’m riding a scooter!” He shows his TikTok audience where he was when police pulled up on him. The officer continues walking toward him with his arms out, telling him to “relax” so he can talk to him. But Walter is already late for his new job and screams, “Leave me alone! I gotta get to work!”
When the officer gets in arm’s length, he calmly states, “At this point, man, we’re gonna put you in handcuffs.” You can hear Walter scream, “Why you gotta pick on me, man? Because I’m black!” This is followed by darkness as the officer clearly throws him to the ground and handcuffs him. As he’s on the ground, he keeps telling the officer that they’re going to “make him lose the job he just got” and “I gotta get to work!” He tries to tell them he’s a “hardworking man” and that he only has “attitude” with them because they had to throw him in handcuffs. The video eventually ends after their back-and-forth discourse.
The video immediately sparked reactions from commenters, with many feeling sad and scared for Walter after the turn of events he faced on the way to work. One commenter simply stated, “This is heartbreaking.” Another mentioned, “Putting handcuffs on for a scooter is absolutely insane.”
Other commenters agreed that they understand why Walter handled things the way he did. As one commented, “He’s in distress! In this economy having your livelihood threatened is terrifying. Listen to him say repeatedly he’s trying to get to work… to a job he JUST got. This is so sad. I can hear his fear and distress.” Commenters continue to show support and discuss the events depicted in this video.
